Ceramic Microbial Fuel Cells Stack: Power generation in standard and supercapacitive mode

Santoro, Carlo; Flores-Cadengo, Cristina; Soavi, Francesca; Kodali, Mounika; Merino-Jimenez, Irene; Gajda, Iwona; Greenman, John; Ieropoulos, Ioannis; Atanassov, Plamen

Abstract

© 2018 The Author(s). In this work, a microbial fuel cell (MFC) stack containing 28 ceramic MFCs was tested in both standard and supercapacitive modes. The MFCs consisted of carbon veil anodes wrapped around the ceramic separator and air-breathing cathodes based on activated carbon catalyst pressed on a stainless steel mesh. The anodes and cathodes were connected in parallel. The electrolytes utilized had different solution conductivities ranging from 2.0 mScm-1 to 40.1 mScm-1, simulating diverse wastewaters. Polarization curves of MFCs showed a general enhancement in performance with the increase of the electrolyte solution conductivity. The maximum stationary power density was 3.2 mW (3.2 Wm-3) at 2.0 mScm-1 that increased to 10.6 mW (10.6 Wm-3) at the highest solution conductivity (40.1 mScm-1). For the first time, MFCs stack with 1 L operating volume was also tested in supercapacitive mode, where full galvanostatic discharges are presented. Also in the latter case, performance once again improved with the increase in solution conductivity. Particularly, the increase in solution conductivity decreased dramatically the ohmic resistance and therefore the time for complete discharge was elongated, with a resultant increase in power. Maximum power achieved varied between 7.6 mW (7.6 Wm-3) at 2.0 mScm-1 and 27.4 mW (27.4 Wm-3) at 40.1 mScm-1.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 19, 2018
• Online Publication Date: Feb 19, 2018
• Publication Date: Dec 1, 2018
• Deposit Date: Mar 12, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 12, 2018
• Journal: Scientific Reports
• Electronic ISSN: 2045-2322
• Publisher: Nature Research (part of Springer Nature)
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 8
• Issue: 3281
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-21404-y
• Keywords: microbial fuel cell, stack, supercapacitive mode, ceramic, power generation
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/875845
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-21404-y
• Related Public URLs: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-21404-y
• Contract Date: Mar 12, 2018